Thomas alfred ryan and isaac whitney



(No Model.)

T. A. RYAN a 1. WHITNEY.'

GAME APPARATUS.

PatentedOot. 27, 1896,

WVLVlEEEEEQ ff' @MQW Noms Prrzns oo, PucmuTr-xo.. wAsHlNoToN D c UNITED STATES PATENT CEE-ICE.

THOMAS ALFRED RYAN AND ISAAC WHITNEY, OF LOlVELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TC CHARLES F. HATCH, OF SAME PLACE.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,105, dated October 27, 1896.

Application filed September 13, 1895. Serial No. 562,411. (No model.)

To (all whom t may concer/1,:

Be it known that we, THOMAS ALFRED RYAN, a subject of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and ISAAC WHITNEY, a citizen of the United States, both residing at Lowell, in the count-y of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Game Apparatus,

1o of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to game apparatus; and it consists in the improvement hereinafter described and claimed on the game apparatus which forms the subject of United States Patent No. 145,385, granted December 9, 1873, to Bean, the object of said improvement being to enable the apparatus to be packed for storage or transportation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is 2o a longitudinal central section of the apparatus packed for storage or transportation, showing the balls, the rest, and one of the rods in side elevation; Fig. 2, a plan of the apparatus packed; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section of the z 5 apparatus in position for use; Fig. 4, a plan of the apparatus in position for use; Fig. 5, a

front elevation of the same in position for use;

Fig. 6, a horizontal section, enlarged, of the rear standard and parts of the rods on line G 6 in Fig. l.

A represents a bed or base provided with pockets or recesses a and with standards B C; D D', two rods pivoted to the standard C and in use resting upon the head B of the standard B and adapted to be moved on said head toward or away from each other; E, balls which roll on said rods and are dropped into said pockets. These parts are all of the construction and operation shown in said patent except in the respects hereinafter stated.

Games are played with this apparatus by placing a ball upon the rods D D at the rear ends of the same, said rods being then substantially parallel with each other and rest- 45 ing upon the head B and inclined downward from said head to the rear standard C, so that by grasping the handles d d" of the rods and spreading said rods apart on said head B the ball will move toward said head until it falls 5o between the rods onto the base A, the object being to make the ball fall into one of the pockets a, which are numbered successively higher from the rear standard to the front standard, the ball apparently, but of course not actually, running uphill.

The base herein shown is provided on each side with ledges a2 as (not shown in said patent) to prevent a ball from rolling oft' from said basewhen in falling said ball fails to strike in a pocket, but drops on the space between. two pockets a or at the side of a pocket, thus saving the annoyance and loss of time required to nd and pick up a ball when it falls on the floor and perhaps rolls under a chair, table, or other object.

'Where the vertical flat front face of the rear standard shown in said patent is used to stop a ball E, descending on the rods D D toward said rear standard, the ball is likely to rebound sidewise over said rods and fall on the ioor, with the result above indicated. IVe make the rear standard C shorter than the corresponding part shown in said patent and use a wire loop F, which acts as a recess to catch the ball even when the ball strikes said 75 loop at a considerable angle to said rear standard and prevent-s the rebounding of the ball, said loop F proper being large enough almost, but not quite, to allow the ball to pass through it. The legs f f of said loop serve the further purpose of pintles for the jointing or hingin g of said rods D D to said rear standard C, said rear standard having a transverse horizontal groove c to receive screw-eyes d2 d3 and two vertical grooves c' c?, which cross 85 said groove c and receive said legs fj" of said loop, said legs passing through said eyes d2 d3 and being driven into the base A.

To enable the apparatus to bepacked in Aslnallspace, the upper part, head, or rest B of 9o the front standard B is readily removable from the body thereof, said head B being provided on its under side with two vertical dowelpins b b', which may be inserted and withdrawn from two corresponding vertical holes 9 5 b2 b3 in the top of the body of said front standard B, and the vtop of said body is provided with two parallel grooves b4 b5- to receive the rods D D. lVhen the apparatus is to be packed, the head B is removed and inverted on the base A between the rods, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, one end of said head B enter- IOO ing a notch c in the front of the rear standard and the other end of said head being held down by one of the balls E, which are placed in the pockets a, and are then kept in place by the rods D D resting upon them and in the grooves b4 b5, said grooves and the groove c being of a suitable height to allow said rods to rest horizontally upon the tops of said balls. The rods are secured in the grooves by a button G, which may be turned over said rods when the latter are in said grooves. XVhen the button is turned a quarter of a revolution and the rods are taken out of the grooves b4 lr", the head B maybe replaced on the front standard, a notch 116 in the bottom of said head receiving said button, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. Then packed, the head maybe held inverted between two balls, that is, each end may obviously be held as the left end is represented as held in Figs. l an d YVe claim as our inventionl. The combination of the base, provided with pockets, the rear standard, having a transverse horizontal groove and having vertical grooves crossing said horizontal groove, the rods, having eyes arranged in said transverse groove, the loop, having legs arranged in said vertical grooves and passing through said eyes into said base, and the Vfront standard, provided with a rest, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the base, provided with pockets, the rear standard, rods, pivoted to said rear standard, the front standard, having a removable head and having `grooves to receive said rods, anda button, turning on said front standard, to retain said rods in said grooves, as and for the purpose speciied.

3. The combination of the base, provided with pockets, the rear standard, rods, pivoted to said rear standard, the front standard, having a removable head and having grooves to receive said rods, and a button, turning on said front standard to retain said rods in said grooves, said removable head having a groove to receive said button when said head is in place on said front standard, as and for the purpose specified.

a. The combination of the base, provided with pockets, to receive balls, the rear standard, rods, pivoted to said'rear standard, the front standard, having a removable head and having grooves to receive said rods, and a button, turning on said front standard, to retain said rods in said grooves, said head having ends, one of which is adapted to enter a notch with which said rear standard is provided, and the other end of which is adapted to be held down bya ball in one of said pockets, as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof we have signed this specification, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, this 7th day of September, A. D. 1895.

THOMAS ALFRED RYAN. ISAAC VIIITNEY. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. Moons, WILLIAM KENYICK. 

